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NUNAVUT - The government of Canada has demanded the resignation of a controversial environmentalist leader from the organization he founded.

Paul Watson, president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has come under fire for online comments he made criticizing the harvesting of more than 600 narwhals near Pond Inlet.

"Mr. Watson's comments demonstrate a deep ignorance of Inuit society, and seek to demonize their culture and traditions," reads the press release from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) released last week. "His extreme comments discredit the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which he represents. These comments are deeply offensive to Inuit, and to all Canadians."

The release was signed by DFO Minister Gail Shea and Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, Nunavut's MP and the first Inuk in cabinet.

Speaking to Nunavut News/North, Aglukkaq called Watson's comment's "ill-informed".

"I think if he had gone and spoken to the people up here, he would have got the facts before he spoke out," she went on.

Watson sits on a radical edge of the environmentalist movement, having been expelled from Greenpeace for disagreeing with their stance on non-violence. Sea Shepherd ships have had some success in sabotaging Japanese whaling operations.

Japanese whaling has been widely criticized by many governments and independent organizations.

The chair of the Ikajutit Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO) in Arctic Bay said many in his community have been offended by Watson's remarks about the narwhal cull.

"He was saying Inuit are barbaric killers," said Tommy Kilabuk. "There was so much hatred in what he said about the Inuit. It wasn't our fault. It was nature that killed the whales ... It's happened before and it'll happen again."

In June, hunters found 24 rotting whale carcasses washed up on ice near Sam Ford fjord, said James Qilluq, Clyde River's Kangiqtugaapik HTO chair.

"Where was Greenpeace then?" Qilluq asked.

Watson has commented repeatedly on the harvest including posting his correspondences with DFO and Inuit officials on the website of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In an e-mail message to Terry Audla, executive director of Qikiqtani Inuit Association, Watson equated the narwhal harvest with the massacre of My Lai, one of the most public atrocities of the Vietnam War.

In a response to Watson's comments, Audla called Watson's position "cultural ignorance at its prime." He wrote the whale meat reduces the Inuit's dependency on supermarket food, the most expensive in Canada.

"Within our Inuit culture we have always had the respect and will continue to hold that respect towards the animals that feed us," Audla wrote. "We do not want unnecessary suffering of the animals that we have always hunted and will continue to uphold that belief! The narwhals being culled will feed many families within the Eastern Arctic and just in time for Christmas! It is truly a time to celebrate!"

Watson in turn called Audla's comments about respect for the animals "mealy-mouthed-tripe."

"This is a crime against nature and I have absolutely no apologies for condemning the butchers of these whales. I may not be politically correct but I choose to be ecologically correct and the slaughter of so many endangered species cannot be justified in the name of culture. I would rather be ignorant of such a culture than to be a part of such an ignorant culture," he wrote.

Aglukkaq and Shea's press release said Watson's comments "cross the line beyond reasonable dissent."

Watson did not limit his attacks to the Inuit. He called the Department of Fisheries and Oceans "the most evil, insidious, incompetent and dangerous bureaucracy in Canada."

Watson responded to the DFO press release with a press release of his own Dec. 11, written while at sea chasing Japanese whalers.

"I said nothing hateful about Inuit culture... I maintain that the slaughter was barbaric, cruel and unnecessary. I make no apologies for that. I could not care less what race or culture these men belonged to - it was their behaviour that I condemned and I maintain that it was a viciously cruel way to execute the orders of the government of Canada," Watson wrote.